Wizard Of Wall Street Game Is Worth The Investment

July 06, 1986|By Peter McWilliams. Universal Press Syndicate.

I read a marvelous science-fiction short story years ago in which some children stumble upon toys from the future. The children`s parents look at the toys, can`t figure out what they are, and let the kids tinker with them.

The children, sponges for knowledge as all tykes are, learn a great deal from the toys, including how to travel to the future-- which they do, never to be seen again.

When I think about how computer games should be, I think of that short story. So many games are just that: games. They amuse, keeping your fingers and eyes busy. Few have educational benefit.

The Wizard of Wall Street, however, instructs while offering a challenge: Take $50,000 and turn it into more. A clock madly ticks away--you only have so many ``months`` to do it in--and your fingers and eyes never had more to do.

With The Wizard of Wall Street, I`ve come to understand in part how the market moves. It`s part company profile, part news, rumors and guesses. If the President happens to talk of slashing defense spending, nervous investors representing huge institutions and pension funds might begin selling defense stocks, driving prices down.

If there is talk of Russians buying up wheat, agricultural prices as a whole might rise. The clever small investor keeps his ear to the ground for such tidbits, second-guessing the effect of the news on big buyers. The big analysts for the big buyers, however, jump at even the threat of news.

The Wizard of Wall Street mimics the stock market. You are presented with an array of fictional stock companies and prices. You have your $50,000. And away you go.

At your disposal are several items, such as research reports, stock histories, market averages, a ticker tape that streams across the top of the screen, and, in lower screen right, a news window. The news window gives such items as ``Drivers at a Dallas facility of Gold Mines withdrew from the AFL-CIO.``

And like the real market, the news sometimes has the opposite effect from what you expect. Withdrawing always sounds bad to me--like Napoleon fleeing Waterloo. But in this case, the drivers withdrawing from the union may mean cheaper labor for the Gold Mines company, which may mean higher profits.

Gold Mines does not have to show actual profit--investors just have to think that the company might have higher revenues. If a lot of investors want the stock, the law of supply and demand alone raises the stock`s price.

A stock day in this game goes by in minutes, or parts of a minute. You can set the speed. At the end of each ``month`` the game pauses to show you how well or poorly you have been doing. If you choose the novice level, then you play for 12 months.

For me, 12 months was two hours the first time I played--and it seemed like 20 minutes. I quickly whittled my first $50,000 down to $10,253. The next time I played only took 45 minutes, and I ended up with $55,000.

It took me about half an hour with the instructions to get the basics of the game. The basics are just the tip on this Empire State Building-sized game. The instruction manual explains the game and stock jargon superbly.

When you make transactions within this game, commissions are automatically added on--as in real life. You have to make money, therefore, just to pay off your broker.

If you want to know how the stock market works, and also want to have fun, race to your dealer for The Wizard of Wall Street. Retail price: $49.95. (Broderbund Software, 17 Paul Drive, San Rafael, Calif. 94903; (415)